running dcpromo remotely

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by Sparky, May 14, 2007.

  1. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Never do this, got booted out of the site I was working at today and thought I would carry on with the install remotley.

    Tried to add the server to the existing domain as a replicated DC and the server hasnt come back up. Ekk! Also when I tried to work on another server it has prompted me for disk two of Server 2003. Why is Windows Server 2003 R2 on two CDs? Arrrgh!

    Anyways, thats me completly shagged the network so what else can go wrong? :biggrin :biggrin :biggrin
     
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  2. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Bummer. :twisted:
    I have never had to do this, although for the sake of VM's I have copied the 386 files to the hard drive to prevent popping the disc in.

    Boyce
     
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  3. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Sparky, have you lost your mind :blink :eek: :biggrin
     
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  4. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    I copied the I386 folder onto the root of the C: drive but R2 has some components on disk 2 which is a pain! :blink

    Sleepless night for me again. I was meant to be doing this install with two other guys but they got called away. Ended up installing the servers on one site myself today and sent one of the helpdesk staff to the other site to just plug in the server as the firewall and bband was already installed last week. When I got there (late) all the staff were leaving.

    Need to do some more R&D with R2, installed Exchange server and I got loads of warnings before installation. Checked all the error messages and it appears that Exchange 2003 basically needs SP1 or SP2 installed right after the original install and wont play ball with R2 or Server 2003 with SP1 or SP2 installed.

    The joy of IT! :biggrin
     
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  5. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Sparks - I sympathise.

    I had a very similar issue a couple of years ago with a DC that was utterly munged. I couldn't demote it gracefully from AD, so ran DCPromo with the /forceremoval switch and had to go through the hairy process of cleaning the metadata out of AD using NTDSUtil - that was NOT a pleasant experience.

    Of course, to cap it all off, I too was running it remotely and didn't have the I386 to hand - hence a three hour drive up the M6 to Warrington at two in the morning :(
     
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  6. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    It happens to us all at one stage although I seem to be having some bad luck just now.

    Rebooted a server remotely a couple of days ago and it didnt come back up. The problem? One of the fans had blown so it was waiting for a press of the F1 key to boot.

    I didnt know this, could not ping the server and yet again had a sleepless night! :gmorning
     
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  7. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Windows firewall, hate it, hate it, HATE IT!!!! :biggrin

    One of the helpdesk staff went to remote site this morning (I was at the other site with the healthy DC) and he said the following message was on the screen. 'You have successfully promoted this server etc etc.'

    Looks like Windows firewall was blocking all traffic as the AD zone had not replicated. Switched off the firewall and then I could ping the server and after a few minutes replication kicked in, happy days!

    Is there an option to uninstall Windows firewall? :biggrin
     
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  8. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Isn't it great!

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    hee hee! :biggrin

    I should have thought it could have been Windows "firewall" that was causing the problem.

    I was wondering why the *other* DC didnt have Windows firewall enabled and I think its because it was the first DC. The second DC is added to the domain and the firewall is enabled by default (I think) when you do this unless you have a GPO to state otherwise. I remember installing a few PCs on a domain which were configured before they were sent to the office (Windows Firewall was disabled) but when they were added to the domain it enabled itself again. :blink

    At least the DC wasnt shagged, could not face that today! :biggrin
     
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  10. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    I always disabled windows firewall always, as it stops you using remote access etc. I too had to learn the hard way its part and parcel of life in I.T:biggrin
     
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  11. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Yeah, it can be a nuisance.
    Some of the exercises i did for part of my 290 preparation was "snags" to avoid. One of them was joining a domain with the firewall on and no GPO to knock it off! Pain!
     
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  12. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Yeah, I do the same but I should really just open up the ports needed. It can all be done in group policy but that means *another* job to do.

    Leave it on for the laptop users though. Once they leave the office and the safety of the corporate firewall their laptop could end up on any dodgy network!
     
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  13. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    Spark mate - i enjoy reading your stories... to me, its motivation to get into the field, as it *seems* like so much fun! ...or in your case, not!

    Keep up the brilliant work mate, and keep drinking that coffee
     
  14. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Cheers mate. 8)

    Before I started my current job I had only done one network install myself but now I have lost count of the amount of servers I have installed. Some of them I support on a day to day basis and other were just one off projects.

    Just need to be prepared for anything.

    Did I tell you about the time I drove all the way down to Newcastle to install a server and rack but we couldn’t get the rack through the front door? (the rack was really designed for a data centre) That meant we had to take the whole thing to bits (this was after midnight) and then rebuild it in the server room!

    The client turned up in the morning and said “WTF, how did you manage that?” :biggrin
     
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  15. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    no you didn't tell me the time when you drove all the way down to Newcastle to install a server and rack but you couldn’t get the rack through the front door? (the rack was really designed for a data centre) That meant you had to take the whole thing to bits (this was after midnight) and then rebuild it in the server room!

    The client turned up in the morning and said “WTF, how did you manage that?”
     
  16. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Ahh, anyways one day I drove down to Newcastle blah blah blah! :biggrin
     
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